Who am I?
Girl. Daughter. Lover of God. LOVED by God. Social Advocate. Intern. Complex. Emotional. Learner. Ambitious. Anxious. In between. Lost. Lonely. Bold. Scared. Timid. Caring. Student. Dependable. Dependent. Loving. WORTHY. Insecure. Liberal. Innovative. Intelligent. Happy. Mixed-Up. Fearful. Helpless. Maternal. Self-aware. Sarcastic. Wounded. Thoughtful. Spiritual. Uncertain.
These are just a few of the words to describe who I am. Imcomplete, yes, but they give some idea of the shape of my soul, my emotions, my being. But notice that most of those words, most of the things that define me are not things that people can tell just by looking at me.
Name tags are deceptive, aren’t they. A cheap copout at best.. We're pretending to know people whom we really don't know. Our name is something unique to us and cannot be severed from our personal stories. Our first name holds the story of our life - with its trials, ambitions, and wonderful moments. Our sir name tells an even longer story of our heritage and family. Our nicknames tell of those private and sometimes embarrassing, but always intimate moments. But to wear a name tag skips right over all of that. It allows us to approach someone on a surface level without any intention to get to know them, to hear their story. I think we have enough of that type of shallowness in our society.
For example: When I was at the installation ceremony for a friend of the family who was becoming a DS, we all had to wear name tags. After a while of brooding over the hated tag, I forgot about it. Until it came to the end of the service for communion and a time of meet and greet. At the alter rail the pastor serving the elements leaned over and addressed me by name. I freaked out and couldn't figure out how this person knew me, until I remembered the tag. The same things happened at the meet and greet, where instead of people asking my name and trying to get to know me, they just looked at my name tag and glossed right over any attempt for connection.
We live in a society where we desire everything to be easy, including getting to know people. But there is a process, that begins with asking people their name and inches forward into more intimate areas. It's a long process. There is a complete difference in my mind between recognizing someone's name and knowing their name. When I know someone's name, I know something meaningful, true, and deep about them. Honestly, even with my closest friends, I'm still getting to know them, and there are things that I learn about my family that are new just about every day. Yet, we try to circumvent this process in the church with a name tag. Is there any hope for intimacy if we aren't willing to take the time, even to introduce ourselves and ask someone their name?
And maybe the problem isn’t just that we want to have a shallow feeling of connection with others. Maybe the problem is much deeper and we don’t really want to take time to know ourselves. It’s hard work. It’s going to involve sifting through the past and remembering both the good and the bad. And it means doing the even harder work of separating the fiction of how other people have defined you from the truth of what God sees when he looks at you. I challenge you to take time to actually ask God what he likes about you, what he sees when he looks at you. Because, brothers and sisters, in the age we live in, he may be the only person who really knows who we are, what our name is, since we don’t even know ourselves.
"If you're name isn't known then its a very lonely feeling." - Madeleine L'Engle
- Michelle
Sunday, June 29, 2008
Monday, June 23, 2008
Dead in Sin, Alive in God - Romans 6:1-23
First, a little history of Rome at the time of this letter.
By 49 or 50, Jews who were not followers of Jesus and the Jewish Christians had been fighting so much that Emporer Claudius expelled them from Rome. Paul became acquainted with the situation from Aquila and Prisicilla, Jewish Christians he met in Corinth where he worked with them in their common trade, tent-makers.
Paul is writing this letter about 55-56 AD. Some of these Jewish Christians had returned to Rome. So now, the The Christian church in Rome was comprised of Gentiles that had converted to Christianity and Jews who accepted Jesus as their Messiah. The bulk of the Church was formed of the Jews. There was disagreements between the two groups over the "correct" method of following Jesus. The Jewish Christians still followed the Law of Moses, and the Gentiles did not.
Paul levels the playing field, in chapter 3, and says;
"Romans 3: 21-24 But in our time something new has been added. What Moses and the prophets witnessed to all those years has happened. The God-setting-things-right that we read about has become Jesus-setting-things-right for us. And not only for us, but for everyone who believes in him. For there is no difference between us and them in this. Since we've compiled this long and sorry record as sinners (both us and them) and proved that we are utterly incapable of living the glorious lives God wills for us, God did it for us. Out of sheer generosity he put us in right standing with himself. A pure gift. He got us out of the mess we're in and restored us to where he always wanted us to be. And he did it by means of Jesus Christ."
This letter, like the rest of the Bible, is still relevant to us today, whether we are Jewish or "Gentile".
So far, Paul has been talking about God's life and how God does everything and we do nothing towards our salvation. No work that we do, nor any goodness that we proclaim has anything to do with our being saved. It doesn't matter who we are, who our parents were, our ancestors or anything we've done, God does it all! He treats all people, Jew and Gentile, religious and pagan the same. As sinners.
So, if God does it all, how can Paul tell us to do anything? If no good deed helps us, why do anything good? If God loves us and accepts us even though we sin, why not just sin, and take the easy road?
Because, Paul tell us, our new life of holiness is the sequel to the act of justification, (a fancy theological word that Eugene Peterson, the author of The Message, renders as "in right standing" with God.)
Up to this point, sin was a "crime against the Law" and carried a criminal sentence. Now, it is contrary to who we are (striving to live as Jesus did) and is destructive to our new way of life.
It affects our daily lives, and who we are.
Before, we lived in fear of being discovered and punished because of our sins. Now, it's as if we are engaging in self-destructive practices or self-injury. And we know it displeases God, and He is disappointed in us. How many of us considered our parents' disappointment a more severe form of punishment than any physical or "worldly" punishment. Groundings and having things taken from us doesn't hurt as much as knowing we disappointed the ones we love.
I'm a very sarcastic person and have a, sometimes, nasty sense of humor. It's hurtful to others and it's something I need to ask God to help me eliminate. Sometimes I speak before thinking and end up hurting somebody's feelings. The knowledge that I've done this causes me more pain than if that person would just walk up to me and smack me in the face.
That's how I feel when I've sinned against God, and I know He's disappointed in me.
When we sin, we also make ourselves slaves to the sin. We're bound up in the sinful nature and behavior. The sin takes over and begins to run our lives.
O what a tangled web we weave,
When first we practise to deceive!
(Sir Walter Scott, Marmion)
Suppose you have served in the military. You have faced the abuse of your Drill Sergeant in basic training and had to endure his transfer into your unit where he continued to intimidate. One day you get your discharge papers in the mail. On the day you become a civilian again you see you former Drill Sergeant. He barks an order in your direction and you start to obey. Suddenly you remember that this man no longer has any authority over you. So you smile, wave, and keep on walking.
When we place our faith and trust in Jesus we are discharged to a different service. Sin (our Drill Sergeant) no longer has any legal right over us. Our debt to sin was paid by Jesus.
We need to choose that discharge, that freedom, by giving ourselves to God, and living in his ways.
Since we already belong to God, though we've been given the "freedom" to do as we choose, it follows that living the way God intends, is the best way to live. Your car was made to run on gasoline, but you're "free" to put diesel or kerosene in it, but it's not going to run the way the manufacturer intended, unless you put gasoline in it. The same with us, our lives are not going to "run" the way the Heavenly Father intends if we continue to sin.
"Romans 6: 22-23 But now that you've found you don't have to listen to sin tell you what to do, and have discovered the delight of listening to God telling you, what a surprise! A whole, healed, put-together life right now, with more and more of life on the way! Work hard for sin your whole life and your pension is death. But God's gift is real life, eternal life, delivered by Jesus, our Master.
Is this going to happen overnight? NO! don't be discouraged by being human, get back up and keep going.
Think about it this way. Suppose you were right-handed. You wrote with your right hand, threw the ball with your right hand, and did most of your work with your right hand. Suppose your right hand was severely injured. Now you have to learn with your left hand. You are willing to learn but development takes time. At first you can barely feed yourself. Everything seems awkward and forced. Your handwriting is illegible and you throw the ball like a preschooler. But you keep working. Eventually you learn to manage with your left hand.
We have been sin-oriented all our lives. Now we begin the difficult task of learning to turn from sin and follow the Lord. At first, our new life may seem doomed to failure. The image of Christ may be barely recognizable in us. But if we keep working and continue to work at following the Lord, we will begin to see the life of Christ built in us.
How are you doing today in your walk with Jesus? Are you securely in his grasp, walking with him, trying to be just like him? Or are you struggling? have you tripped, or fallen? Get up! grab His hand and continue your walk, and if that's a struggle, ask for help from another Christian. We need to pray for one another as we walk with Him. We need to love, support and help one another as Jesus does. We need to watch out for one another. We are His hands, His feet, His disciples here on earth.
So when you see someone struggling, don't just walk on by, stop, offer Jesus' hand of help and love. Lift each other up, spiritually, emotionally and physically, if needed. Let's show the world Jesus through our day to day life.
- Ralph
By 49 or 50, Jews who were not followers of Jesus and the Jewish Christians had been fighting so much that Emporer Claudius expelled them from Rome. Paul became acquainted with the situation from Aquila and Prisicilla, Jewish Christians he met in Corinth where he worked with them in their common trade, tent-makers.
Paul is writing this letter about 55-56 AD. Some of these Jewish Christians had returned to Rome. So now, the The Christian church in Rome was comprised of Gentiles that had converted to Christianity and Jews who accepted Jesus as their Messiah. The bulk of the Church was formed of the Jews. There was disagreements between the two groups over the "correct" method of following Jesus. The Jewish Christians still followed the Law of Moses, and the Gentiles did not.
Paul levels the playing field, in chapter 3, and says;
"Romans 3: 21-24 But in our time something new has been added. What Moses and the prophets witnessed to all those years has happened. The God-setting-things-right that we read about has become Jesus-setting-things-right for us. And not only for us, but for everyone who believes in him. For there is no difference between us and them in this. Since we've compiled this long and sorry record as sinners (both us and them) and proved that we are utterly incapable of living the glorious lives God wills for us, God did it for us. Out of sheer generosity he put us in right standing with himself. A pure gift. He got us out of the mess we're in and restored us to where he always wanted us to be. And he did it by means of Jesus Christ."
This letter, like the rest of the Bible, is still relevant to us today, whether we are Jewish or "Gentile".
So far, Paul has been talking about God's life and how God does everything and we do nothing towards our salvation. No work that we do, nor any goodness that we proclaim has anything to do with our being saved. It doesn't matter who we are, who our parents were, our ancestors or anything we've done, God does it all! He treats all people, Jew and Gentile, religious and pagan the same. As sinners.
So, if God does it all, how can Paul tell us to do anything? If no good deed helps us, why do anything good? If God loves us and accepts us even though we sin, why not just sin, and take the easy road?
Because, Paul tell us, our new life of holiness is the sequel to the act of justification, (a fancy theological word that Eugene Peterson, the author of The Message, renders as "in right standing" with God.)
Up to this point, sin was a "crime against the Law" and carried a criminal sentence. Now, it is contrary to who we are (striving to live as Jesus did) and is destructive to our new way of life.
It affects our daily lives, and who we are.
Before, we lived in fear of being discovered and punished because of our sins. Now, it's as if we are engaging in self-destructive practices or self-injury. And we know it displeases God, and He is disappointed in us. How many of us considered our parents' disappointment a more severe form of punishment than any physical or "worldly" punishment. Groundings and having things taken from us doesn't hurt as much as knowing we disappointed the ones we love.
I'm a very sarcastic person and have a, sometimes, nasty sense of humor. It's hurtful to others and it's something I need to ask God to help me eliminate. Sometimes I speak before thinking and end up hurting somebody's feelings. The knowledge that I've done this causes me more pain than if that person would just walk up to me and smack me in the face.
That's how I feel when I've sinned against God, and I know He's disappointed in me.
When we sin, we also make ourselves slaves to the sin. We're bound up in the sinful nature and behavior. The sin takes over and begins to run our lives.
O what a tangled web we weave,
When first we practise to deceive!
(Sir Walter Scott, Marmion)
Suppose you have served in the military. You have faced the abuse of your Drill Sergeant in basic training and had to endure his transfer into your unit where he continued to intimidate. One day you get your discharge papers in the mail. On the day you become a civilian again you see you former Drill Sergeant. He barks an order in your direction and you start to obey. Suddenly you remember that this man no longer has any authority over you. So you smile, wave, and keep on walking.
When we place our faith and trust in Jesus we are discharged to a different service. Sin (our Drill Sergeant) no longer has any legal right over us. Our debt to sin was paid by Jesus.
We need to choose that discharge, that freedom, by giving ourselves to God, and living in his ways.
Since we already belong to God, though we've been given the "freedom" to do as we choose, it follows that living the way God intends, is the best way to live. Your car was made to run on gasoline, but you're "free" to put diesel or kerosene in it, but it's not going to run the way the manufacturer intended, unless you put gasoline in it. The same with us, our lives are not going to "run" the way the Heavenly Father intends if we continue to sin.
"Romans 6: 22-23 But now that you've found you don't have to listen to sin tell you what to do, and have discovered the delight of listening to God telling you, what a surprise! A whole, healed, put-together life right now, with more and more of life on the way! Work hard for sin your whole life and your pension is death. But God's gift is real life, eternal life, delivered by Jesus, our Master.
Is this going to happen overnight? NO! don't be discouraged by being human, get back up and keep going.
Think about it this way. Suppose you were right-handed. You wrote with your right hand, threw the ball with your right hand, and did most of your work with your right hand. Suppose your right hand was severely injured. Now you have to learn with your left hand. You are willing to learn but development takes time. At first you can barely feed yourself. Everything seems awkward and forced. Your handwriting is illegible and you throw the ball like a preschooler. But you keep working. Eventually you learn to manage with your left hand.
We have been sin-oriented all our lives. Now we begin the difficult task of learning to turn from sin and follow the Lord. At first, our new life may seem doomed to failure. The image of Christ may be barely recognizable in us. But if we keep working and continue to work at following the Lord, we will begin to see the life of Christ built in us.
How are you doing today in your walk with Jesus? Are you securely in his grasp, walking with him, trying to be just like him? Or are you struggling? have you tripped, or fallen? Get up! grab His hand and continue your walk, and if that's a struggle, ask for help from another Christian. We need to pray for one another as we walk with Him. We need to love, support and help one another as Jesus does. We need to watch out for one another. We are His hands, His feet, His disciples here on earth.
So when you see someone struggling, don't just walk on by, stop, offer Jesus' hand of help and love. Lift each other up, spiritually, emotionally and physically, if needed. Let's show the world Jesus through our day to day life.
- Ralph
Monday, June 16, 2008
Gen 18: 1-15
HOSPITALITY
ILLUS: The Talmud states that faithful Jews must thank God as much for good days as bad
Many churches state, “All welcome!”
Abraham and Sarah practice radical hospitality. Baked bread, killed the calf. Didn’t just do the bare minimum, but invited them into their home and life for a time. This was a matter of life and death for those traveling in the desert.
1 Peter 4:9:
9Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling.
Matthew 25: I was a stranger and you invited me in.
ILLUS: Bare minimum….doing as little as necessary to get an A in a class.
In our busyness, do we truly practice radical hospitality, or do we scrape up leftovers and do the bare minimum?
HURDLES/SURPRISES
ILLUS: Andy Griffith show: surprise party. Barney sees Andy and Helen in the jewelry store sneaking a kiss and tells everyone they are engaged. Aunt Bee redecorates Andy's room for a bride and throws a big surprise party for them.
ILLUS: My father---
Kidnapped, raised by grandparents, never knew mother
Never finished high school, though intelligent
Worked hard to ensure a better life for children
Taught perseverance, determination
Life of faith will throw curveballs at us. Even when it means God’s blessing, there will be hurdles and surprises.
HUMOR
Walking with God takes a sense of humor. It is the beginning of an awesome and scary journey. Sarah laughed. I would too.
Laughter is healthy and necessary to deal with the faith hurdles.
Sarah laughed because God was promising something that every sensible bone in her body thought was impossible. Kind of like it used to be said that breaking the sound barrier was impossible.
ILLUS: Breaking the Sound Barrier (book by Theresa Flint-Borden). Sometimes walking in faith is like breaking the sound barrier.
Here are transcripts from the PBS show, NOVA 10/24/97 (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/transcripts/2412barrier.html)
SIR PETER MASEFIELD: There was a feeling that this was a barrier. It couldn't be overcome, because airplanes would go out of control and nothing could be done to bring them in.
DE BEELER: Well, there were a lot of people that said it was impossible. And that's why they talked about the sonic wall. That means like a brick wall. And a lot of people accepted that.
STACY KEACH (NARRATOR): The day that a plane first flew faster than sound was a milestone in the history of aviation. Many thought it couldn't be done. But great risks were taken, and lives were lost to prove the skeptics wrong.
CAPT. ERIC BROWN: There was a huge amount of vibration juddering through the aircraft. As you got closer to the speed of sound, each bite beyond a certain limit was fraught with the possibility of disaster.
ANN B. CARL: Funny things began to happen inside the cockpit. Dust was flying around. The stick would bang over against my leg, and I tried various things. It was certainly not a pleasant feeling to have the plane out of control. We were just going so fast that I didn't think I could probably get out.
Lots of people tried and just gave up when they were almost there.
STACY KEACH (NARRATOR): Most frightening of all, it became harder and harder to pull the Spitfire out of its dive. The elevator, the movable part of the tail that changes the angle of the dive, wouldn't work, no matter how hard the pilot pulled back on the control stick.
SIR PETER MASEFIELD: Several test pilots, sadly, were lost because the airplane went uncontrollable.
STACY KEACH (NARRATOR): But the risks and sacrifice helped reveal why these World War II fighter planes were going out of control. At slow speeds, the air flowed smoothly over the thick wings. But near the speed of sound, air traveled so fast that it formed shock waves, causing it to break away from the wing surface. The air would become turbulent, disrupting the wing and tail controls. Worse still, the lift generated by the air moved backwards, tipping the plane into an uncontrollable dive.
STACY KEACH (NARRATOR): Yeager was in considerable pain. On the eve of the flight, he had fallen off a horse and broken his ribs.
BRIG. GEN. CHUCK YEAGER: You're in a very dark hole under the B-29, and when you drop clear of the B-29, you're in bright sunlight. When I got above 94% of the speed of sound, the nose begins to come up on the airplane. I just cranked the leading edge up on the horizontal stabilizer to keep the nose down. When we went a little faster, the mach meter went off the scale and when it did, all the buffeting smoothed out, because the supersonic flow went over the whole airplane. And even I knew we had gotten above the speed of sound.
From http://www.acepilots.com/usaaf_yeager2.html:
The X-1 had gone through "the sonic wall" without so much as a bump. As the speed topped out at Mach 1.05, Yeager had the sensation of shooting straight through the top of the sky. The sky turned a deep purple and all at once the stars and the moon came out - the sun shone at the same time. ... He was simply looking out into space. ... He was master of the sky. His was a king's solitude, unique and inviolate, above the dome of the world.
God has amazing, seemingly impossible plans in store for each of us. There is only one requirement as we are faced with the blessings and challenges of God’s plans: are we willing to be faithful? Faithful enough to practice radical hospitality? Faithful enough to hang in there through the hurdles? Faithful enough to laugh at the ridiculousness of the seemingly impossible things that God can and will do with those who surrender to God’s will.
- Renee
ILLUS: The Talmud states that faithful Jews must thank God as much for good days as bad
Many churches state, “All welcome!”
Abraham and Sarah practice radical hospitality. Baked bread, killed the calf. Didn’t just do the bare minimum, but invited them into their home and life for a time. This was a matter of life and death for those traveling in the desert.
1 Peter 4:9:
9Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling.
Matthew 25: I was a stranger and you invited me in.
ILLUS: Bare minimum….doing as little as necessary to get an A in a class.
In our busyness, do we truly practice radical hospitality, or do we scrape up leftovers and do the bare minimum?
HURDLES/SURPRISES
ILLUS: Andy Griffith show: surprise party. Barney sees Andy and Helen in the jewelry store sneaking a kiss and tells everyone they are engaged. Aunt Bee redecorates Andy's room for a bride and throws a big surprise party for them.
ILLUS: My father---
Kidnapped, raised by grandparents, never knew mother
Never finished high school, though intelligent
Worked hard to ensure a better life for children
Taught perseverance, determination
Life of faith will throw curveballs at us. Even when it means God’s blessing, there will be hurdles and surprises.
HUMOR
Walking with God takes a sense of humor. It is the beginning of an awesome and scary journey. Sarah laughed. I would too.
Laughter is healthy and necessary to deal with the faith hurdles.
Sarah laughed because God was promising something that every sensible bone in her body thought was impossible. Kind of like it used to be said that breaking the sound barrier was impossible.
ILLUS: Breaking the Sound Barrier (book by Theresa Flint-Borden). Sometimes walking in faith is like breaking the sound barrier.
Here are transcripts from the PBS show, NOVA 10/24/97 (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/transcripts/2412barrier.html)
SIR PETER MASEFIELD: There was a feeling that this was a barrier. It couldn't be overcome, because airplanes would go out of control and nothing could be done to bring them in.
DE BEELER: Well, there were a lot of people that said it was impossible. And that's why they talked about the sonic wall. That means like a brick wall. And a lot of people accepted that.
STACY KEACH (NARRATOR): The day that a plane first flew faster than sound was a milestone in the history of aviation. Many thought it couldn't be done. But great risks were taken, and lives were lost to prove the skeptics wrong.
CAPT. ERIC BROWN: There was a huge amount of vibration juddering through the aircraft. As you got closer to the speed of sound, each bite beyond a certain limit was fraught with the possibility of disaster.
ANN B. CARL: Funny things began to happen inside the cockpit. Dust was flying around. The stick would bang over against my leg, and I tried various things. It was certainly not a pleasant feeling to have the plane out of control. We were just going so fast that I didn't think I could probably get out.
Lots of people tried and just gave up when they were almost there.
STACY KEACH (NARRATOR): Most frightening of all, it became harder and harder to pull the Spitfire out of its dive. The elevator, the movable part of the tail that changes the angle of the dive, wouldn't work, no matter how hard the pilot pulled back on the control stick.
SIR PETER MASEFIELD: Several test pilots, sadly, were lost because the airplane went uncontrollable.
STACY KEACH (NARRATOR): But the risks and sacrifice helped reveal why these World War II fighter planes were going out of control. At slow speeds, the air flowed smoothly over the thick wings. But near the speed of sound, air traveled so fast that it formed shock waves, causing it to break away from the wing surface. The air would become turbulent, disrupting the wing and tail controls. Worse still, the lift generated by the air moved backwards, tipping the plane into an uncontrollable dive.
STACY KEACH (NARRATOR): Yeager was in considerable pain. On the eve of the flight, he had fallen off a horse and broken his ribs.
BRIG. GEN. CHUCK YEAGER: You're in a very dark hole under the B-29, and when you drop clear of the B-29, you're in bright sunlight. When I got above 94% of the speed of sound, the nose begins to come up on the airplane. I just cranked the leading edge up on the horizontal stabilizer to keep the nose down. When we went a little faster, the mach meter went off the scale and when it did, all the buffeting smoothed out, because the supersonic flow went over the whole airplane. And even I knew we had gotten above the speed of sound.
From http://www.acepilots.com/usaaf_yeager2.html:
The X-1 had gone through "the sonic wall" without so much as a bump. As the speed topped out at Mach 1.05, Yeager had the sensation of shooting straight through the top of the sky. The sky turned a deep purple and all at once the stars and the moon came out - the sun shone at the same time. ... He was simply looking out into space. ... He was master of the sky. His was a king's solitude, unique and inviolate, above the dome of the world.
God has amazing, seemingly impossible plans in store for each of us. There is only one requirement as we are faced with the blessings and challenges of God’s plans: are we willing to be faithful? Faithful enough to practice radical hospitality? Faithful enough to hang in there through the hurdles? Faithful enough to laugh at the ridiculousness of the seemingly impossible things that God can and will do with those who surrender to God’s will.
- Renee
June 15th Sermon Podcast
Our first podcast! be gentle, it's also the first podcast I've created. Great learning experience. Obviously I need to learn more about audio processing and editing, but it's a first step. Enjoy!
God Bless, Ralph
Sunday, June 08, 2008
Intimacy with God - Based off Psalm 36: 5-10, John 5: 19-30
In his book Soul Cravings, author and pastor Erwin McManus puts forth the idea that all human beings have three basic cravings. We yearn for intimacy, destiny, and meaning. We have these deep desires in us for these cravings because God has designed us to have them, to lead us into a deeper relationship with him from which we derive our identity. However, after Genesis 3, with the Fall of Creation through the sin of Adam and Eve, things have become a little messed up. We no longer look to God to fulfill our cravings, but rather turn to other things and people to define who we are.
Tonight, I want to focus on the first craving. The craving of intimacy. We want to belong. To be loved and accepted for who we are. But we’ve ran into several roadblocks that make us fearful of intimacy as well. We become bitter because other people have hurt us.
And all of this leads back to the ultimate problem, we’ve looked to others to fulfill this deep longing for intimacy. But because they are fallen, just like you and me, we will never be loved by others as perfectly as we desire to be. And then we turn around and instead of thinking, okay, no human can love me perfectly, because only God, my Father, my Abba, my Daddy, can love me perfectly, we use human failures to define God. We shy away from going deeper into a relationship with God because we think he’ll hurt us, because well, everyone else has. What a tragedy! We cut ourselves off in fear from the perfection of love, the only true acceptance we will ever have! It’s like we have forgotten all about 1 John 4:16 which says, “We know the love that God has for us, and we trust that love.” We don’t trust God. We don’t trust his love. But God calls us to remember, remember all of the times that he held us close and told us that he loves us, and has this beautiful, amazing, relationship with us. Do not let bitterness from the pain inflicted by other imperfect people block you from this relationship.
For about a year now, I’ve been signing almost all of my emails with “You are LOVED.” I hope that this is a small reminder to those I correspond with that they are first and foremost loved as a child of Christ. They are loved by God no matter how they see themselves or how others see them. They are loved by God no matter what they can or cannot do, because God doesn’t alter his love for us. He loves us just as we are, broken pieces and all. I equate this to something that I have told a friend of mine. I love him for who he was, who he is, and who he is going to be. I love him, because I love him and I see beauty in him even on his bad days. My care for him isn’t based off of a feeling, it goes deeper then that. And that is just a small glimpse of how God loves us, with this unshakeable love. 1 John 3:10 reminds us just how deeply God loves us when he says “The Father has loved us so much that we are called children of God. And we really are his children.” Just incase you missed the fact that you are a child of God, John emphasizes it twice in one sentence. In other words, this is a big deal. We have this intimate connection with God, that all too often, once again, has been marred in its beauty because of our tarnished human families. God loves you the way a perfect father would. For those of you who didn’t have the ideal father, God is the one who created you. He rejoices over you. He cheers you on. He scolds you out of love in order to make you develop into a more complete person. He sacrificed everything for you. God would be the dad who would be home early every night to ask you how your day was and mean it,, and tuck you in at night.
If I could think of one person who had an intimate relationship with God from the scriptures I would say David. David was a little Shepard boy who God choose to be the King of Israel. He is known for being called a man after God’s own heart and promised that one of his decedents will be the Messiah. David and God were close. If you need proof just look at the psalms. David was close enough to God to tell him when he was having a horrible day. He was intimate enough with God to share his highest joys and deepest pains. He had no doubt that God had made him and loved him, even when he screwed up, which he of course did. And the relationship that David boasts of in today’s scripture passage, that dear brothers and sisters is what we crave! Steadfast, faithful love. Love that envelops us and lets us rest in the knowledge that we are loved, perfectly, forever. And that steadfast love, the love that God showed to David, he is trying to show to all of us, if our bitterness would stop blocking him.
The beauty of our relationship with God, the intimacy we crave from God, flows from the intimacy he has with himself. Follow me now into the deep waters of theology – the study of God. As Christians we believe that that God is three in one. We believe in God the Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit. All three have separate functions, but they are all equal. And they cannot be complete without one another. They are always present with one another and their love is perfect and complete. They need each other so that they can give love, because love requires an object.
I know that all sounds confusing. And honestly, it is. But I want to share with you a passage that describes this reciprocal, perfect love from William Young’s The Shack. “Jesus reached across the table and took Papa [God’s] hand in his, scars now clearly visible on his writs. Mack sat transfixed as Jesus took his Father’s hand and kissed it and looked deep into his Father’s eyes and finally said, “Papa, I loved watching you today as you made yourself fully available to Mack to take Mack’s pain into yourself, and than giving him space to choose his own timing. You honored him, and You honored me. To listen to you whisper love and calm his heart was truly incredible. What a joy to watch! I love being your son!”
This intimacy, dependence, passion for one another, and authentic love is what Christ was describing in John chapter 5 when he says “Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing on his own, but only what he sees the Father doing, for whatever the Father does the son does likewise. The Father loves the sons and shows him all that he himself is doing and he will show him greater works than these, so that you will be astonished.” The Godhead was revealed at different places for different purposes in history. At Mount Sinai where God gave Moses the 10 Commandments and covered the mountain as a cloud, but Christ and the Holy Spirit were present also, because they each can do nothing of their own. At Bethlehem, Christ was born as a baby, after the Holy Spirit impregnated Mary, but God and the Spirit were present also, because they each can do nothing of their own. And at Pentecost, the Holy Spirit distributed spiritual gifts and languages to the believers, but God and Christ were present also, because they each can do nothing of their own. Do you see how God’s intimacy, his love is linked to his dependency? Can you see that this relationship is ultimately one of community, acceptance, belonging, and identity?
May we strive to have this type of intimacy in our relationship with God. May we become utterly dependent upon God and place all of our trust in him. And may we stop defining our relationship with the Most High off of our fallen relationships with others. God yearns to show you true intimacy, let him. Amen.
Tonight, I want to focus on the first craving. The craving of intimacy. We want to belong. To be loved and accepted for who we are. But we’ve ran into several roadblocks that make us fearful of intimacy as well. We become bitter because other people have hurt us.
And all of this leads back to the ultimate problem, we’ve looked to others to fulfill this deep longing for intimacy. But because they are fallen, just like you and me, we will never be loved by others as perfectly as we desire to be. And then we turn around and instead of thinking, okay, no human can love me perfectly, because only God, my Father, my Abba, my Daddy, can love me perfectly, we use human failures to define God. We shy away from going deeper into a relationship with God because we think he’ll hurt us, because well, everyone else has. What a tragedy! We cut ourselves off in fear from the perfection of love, the only true acceptance we will ever have! It’s like we have forgotten all about 1 John 4:16 which says, “We know the love that God has for us, and we trust that love.” We don’t trust God. We don’t trust his love. But God calls us to remember, remember all of the times that he held us close and told us that he loves us, and has this beautiful, amazing, relationship with us. Do not let bitterness from the pain inflicted by other imperfect people block you from this relationship.
For about a year now, I’ve been signing almost all of my emails with “You are LOVED.” I hope that this is a small reminder to those I correspond with that they are first and foremost loved as a child of Christ. They are loved by God no matter how they see themselves or how others see them. They are loved by God no matter what they can or cannot do, because God doesn’t alter his love for us. He loves us just as we are, broken pieces and all. I equate this to something that I have told a friend of mine. I love him for who he was, who he is, and who he is going to be. I love him, because I love him and I see beauty in him even on his bad days. My care for him isn’t based off of a feeling, it goes deeper then that. And that is just a small glimpse of how God loves us, with this unshakeable love. 1 John 3:10 reminds us just how deeply God loves us when he says “The Father has loved us so much that we are called children of God. And we really are his children.” Just incase you missed the fact that you are a child of God, John emphasizes it twice in one sentence. In other words, this is a big deal. We have this intimate connection with God, that all too often, once again, has been marred in its beauty because of our tarnished human families. God loves you the way a perfect father would. For those of you who didn’t have the ideal father, God is the one who created you. He rejoices over you. He cheers you on. He scolds you out of love in order to make you develop into a more complete person. He sacrificed everything for you. God would be the dad who would be home early every night to ask you how your day was and mean it,, and tuck you in at night.
If I could think of one person who had an intimate relationship with God from the scriptures I would say David. David was a little Shepard boy who God choose to be the King of Israel. He is known for being called a man after God’s own heart and promised that one of his decedents will be the Messiah. David and God were close. If you need proof just look at the psalms. David was close enough to God to tell him when he was having a horrible day. He was intimate enough with God to share his highest joys and deepest pains. He had no doubt that God had made him and loved him, even when he screwed up, which he of course did. And the relationship that David boasts of in today’s scripture passage, that dear brothers and sisters is what we crave! Steadfast, faithful love. Love that envelops us and lets us rest in the knowledge that we are loved, perfectly, forever. And that steadfast love, the love that God showed to David, he is trying to show to all of us, if our bitterness would stop blocking him.
The beauty of our relationship with God, the intimacy we crave from God, flows from the intimacy he has with himself. Follow me now into the deep waters of theology – the study of God. As Christians we believe that that God is three in one. We believe in God the Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit. All three have separate functions, but they are all equal. And they cannot be complete without one another. They are always present with one another and their love is perfect and complete. They need each other so that they can give love, because love requires an object.
I know that all sounds confusing. And honestly, it is. But I want to share with you a passage that describes this reciprocal, perfect love from William Young’s The Shack. “Jesus reached across the table and took Papa [God’s] hand in his, scars now clearly visible on his writs. Mack sat transfixed as Jesus took his Father’s hand and kissed it and looked deep into his Father’s eyes and finally said, “Papa, I loved watching you today as you made yourself fully available to Mack to take Mack’s pain into yourself, and than giving him space to choose his own timing. You honored him, and You honored me. To listen to you whisper love and calm his heart was truly incredible. What a joy to watch! I love being your son!”
This intimacy, dependence, passion for one another, and authentic love is what Christ was describing in John chapter 5 when he says “Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing on his own, but only what he sees the Father doing, for whatever the Father does the son does likewise. The Father loves the sons and shows him all that he himself is doing and he will show him greater works than these, so that you will be astonished.” The Godhead was revealed at different places for different purposes in history. At Mount Sinai where God gave Moses the 10 Commandments and covered the mountain as a cloud, but Christ and the Holy Spirit were present also, because they each can do nothing of their own. At Bethlehem, Christ was born as a baby, after the Holy Spirit impregnated Mary, but God and the Spirit were present also, because they each can do nothing of their own. And at Pentecost, the Holy Spirit distributed spiritual gifts and languages to the believers, but God and Christ were present also, because they each can do nothing of their own. Do you see how God’s intimacy, his love is linked to his dependency? Can you see that this relationship is ultimately one of community, acceptance, belonging, and identity?
May we strive to have this type of intimacy in our relationship with God. May we become utterly dependent upon God and place all of our trust in him. And may we stop defining our relationship with the Most High off of our fallen relationships with others. God yearns to show you true intimacy, let him. Amen.
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